Trick or Treat 2023 on a Tuesday with Wednesday!

Halloween 2023 and it was just me and Holly. Tina was at work, Brandon didn't want to go out and Joshua had to stay in as he has a History and ICT mock exam tomorrow. I think Brandon drew the short straw as all he wanted to do was play on the Playstation and instead he ended up being like a yo-yo all night getting up and down to go to the front door to offer sweets to all the trick or treaters that came knocking.

Holly was dressed as Wednesday this year and obviously looked the part as lots of people commented on her costume and knew exactly who she was. We managed to avoid the rain and was out for about an hour in total getting a pretty good haul of sweets. Meanwhile Brandon had given out four tubs of Celebrations!!!!!

Me and my little Wednesday out Trick or Treating.

Asusual some of the houses on the Wick looked amazing putting in loads of effort.

Holly ended up giving half of her hau away as we ran out of sweets and she said she had too many. So this is what she ended up with.

Holly's Bedroom Make Over Update

This half term has mainly been focused around Holly's bedroom make over and the progress has been slow. It is all painted, new light shades, bedside lamp, medal rack, wall murals and then 2 days ago her new dressing table arrived.

The dressing table looks great and Holly is really pleased with it. Believe it or not it came in about a million pieces and took me some 3 hours to assemble!!! So whilst I cracked on with this Tina took the boys out for their half term go-karting. The dressing table has two locking draws which Holly loves as she can keep her private stuff locked away (until she loses the keys!). Personally for the money we paid for the dressing table I am a little dissappointed with the size and the build quality, but Holly seems happy.

The main delay in finishing her Stitch themed bedroom is now the new bed. We ordered a high sleeper with a desk underneath but unfortunately it is not being delivered until today and we have a rather packed weekend. So it is unlikely I will get to finish her room in the half term as planned.

I get the feeling Holly will be spending a lot of time at her new dressing table.

 

Whilst I was building the boys were off going head to head at go-karting again. Brandon came 2nd overall and Joshua was 4th. This pic was Joshua pushing Brandon wide around the hairpin!

Construction Josh Helping Fit A New Oven

When Josh leaves school he is unsure whether he wants to do construction brick laying or electrical but he knows he wants to go to college and do a trade. So far we have looked at Southend and Chelmsford college for him and have Basildon booked up next month.

Anyway Tina said it would be good for him to help me fit the new oven yesterday if he wants to get in to the trades. The old oven had done well lasting 23 years with just replacement bulbs and heater elements, but it was continuously tripping out the downstairs electrics and thus time to bite the bullet and replace it.

I didn't let Josh do any of the wiring for obvious reasons, but he did help me to unpack the oven and then lift it in to position. In hind site I should have allowed him to screw it in as well. As you can see I was teaching him all the good health and safety habits of home DIY including bare feet and a nice arched back on that lift.

Home DIY health and safety with bare feet and a nice arched back for lifting the oven!

But we got it in without any injuries. Just a sweaty back for me crawling inside the unit to re-do all the wiring.

Ta-da, after 23 years we have a new oven nd the chrome finish matches the dark cupboard doors nicely. Job well done. Hob will need replacing next!

Holly's Stitch Bedroom Make Over Begins

This half term me and Tina are using up some holiday and taking the week off work. During this week one of our plans is to get Holly's bedroom decorated and a new bed with desk and dressing table for her. So today we smashed in to her room getting it all cleared out, old wall paper stripped off and the walls all painted. 

Holly picked the colour herself and these pictures don't really show it well, but basically it is a teal colour which is what she wanted for her Disney Stitch themed bedroom. We are adding some Stitch wall murals, lamp shades, night light, bed set and so on. We are also going to put up a new medal/trophy rack to display all her accolades.

Unfortunately I have ordered the bed pretty late though and it won't get delivered until Saturday!!!! So we are quickly going to grind to a halt on what we can get done. So watch out for further updates later in the week.

Holly helping me do the roller work whilst Tina did all the edging. Many hands make light work.

Holly did a really good job with the scraper to help get the old wall paper and murals off.

Joshua's 16th Birthday Meal at the Honeypot

Joshua's birthday celebrations continued yesterday as we had a lovely family meal out at the Honeypot. Unfortunately Zoe, Nick and Rory couldn't be there due to illness, but nearly everyone else was there. It was really good to catch up with everyone and the food was really good as well (good pick Josh). Thank you to everyone who came and for all Joshua's cards, money and vouchers. Here are a few picks from the evening.

Everyone was seeing how bad there eyes were by trying out Lisa's glasses.

Do they go with my Moobs?

Amy did a great job of cheering up Brandon who seemed a bit down before going out for dinner.

Dinner for 11.

Nicky with Lisa's glasses on.

Michael looking very serious.

Of course the birthday boy was embarrassed by the staff coming out with a cake and singing Happy Birthday to him.

Huff and puff time.

How In The Blue Hell Do I Have a 16 Year Old?

Well if I wasn't already feeling old, Joshua turning 16 earlier this week has certainly cemented the fact that I am "old". How the hell can I possibly have a 16 year old???? 

His birthday was pretty low key as he didn't want a big party or anything. In fact he just wanted to go out for a meal with the family and therefore we are going to arrange something for the weekend. As a little treat on his birthday Tina bought everyone a Chinese takeaway as she had not time to cook anyway due to Holly having to go for her open evening tour of Beauchamp's School (again making me feel old with the fact my youngest is already looking at senior schools!).

For Joshua's birthday this year he really only wanted a new phone and bits for his PC. So he got an iPhone 11 with a WestHam case, a microphone, headset and new mouse for his PC, a Nike tracksuit, a hot chocolate kit and a pack of cider plus a few other bits. We wanted to get him something to remember his 16th and bought him a 5mm Cuban square chain in white gold. Due to the size of Josh this had to be a 20" to fit around his neck!!!

Other than that he just got money and vouchers. Then for his 16th birthday cake Tina got him a chocolate cake from Tesco's. 

This man monster turned sweet 16 this week.

Brandon was still in bed so only 4 of us in Joshua's birthday pic!

Almost smiling. I think he just wanted his presents at this stage.

Bit of a give away when he opens the WestHam phone case before he opens the phone, doh!

Nothing special for a cake, just plain chocolate, but very nice.

A very flattering picture of Joshua blowing the candles out, I think he was still more interested in playing with his new phone.

Joshua's Last School Photo

Finally received the official school photos for 2023/24 for Joshua and Brandon. For Joshua this will be his last ever school picture as he plans to leave and go to college after he finishes Year 11. Grumpy Brandon looking very serious and trying not to smile as it isn't "cool".

Joshua's last ever school picture - where did the time go.

Is it really that had to just smile for a picture and try and enjoy life???

Holly's 3D Printer Pen

Holly is much more organised than the boys and has already pulled together her 10th birthday present list. One of the items on there which she has been on and on about for ages is a 3D printer pen. Well we was in the Range at the weekend and saw a 3D printer pen for under £20 and as Holly hadn't spent her pocket money this month we decided to let her get it rather than the usual toot, fidgets and lip balms which she buys.

She is so creative and artistic and absolutely loves this gadget. It charges via a USB and takes only a minute or two to heat up to temp once charged. She has about half a dozen reels of material which are rapidly running out so I sense I am going to constantly be buying more refills for her. Yesterday she has been making some heart and Halloween rings amongst other things.

Holly using her new 3D printer pen which she bought with her pocket money.

The creative side of Holly making some 3D jewelry.

Some of her creations. A heart ring and a witches hat ring.

Walking Home From School With Her Phone

Since starting Year 5 Holly has been pestering us that she wants to start walking home from school on her own now as she is a big girl!. I can't say I was overly excited about this but given that the boys started walking on their own in Year 5 and Tina has changed her work hours and isn't always available - then it kind of makes sense. Of course the condition of this is that she must have a mobile phone on her to be able to call us and so that we can track her location.

So we dug out an old Samsung phone we had around the house and got Holly a monthly SIM card so she now has her own mobile phone just like her big brothers. She has actually been really good with her walking home and calls me or Tina as soon as she gets out of the school gates and then about 2 or 3 times more on her way home. Not only that we can track her position on the Life360 App. But it does seem really weird getting phone calls from Holly and seeing her come walking in on her own. What is happening to our little baby?????

Tracking Holly on her way home from school on the Life360 App.

The Challenges of Having Children & 2023 School Photo's

So I haven't blogged in about 2 weeks and posted nothing since the kids all went back to school. This is primarily because it has been a pretty stressful couple of weeks with so much going on with the family that of an evening when I would normally do the blog, I have just wanted to crash out and get some R&R. Honestly when you have children they really should supply an owners manual to help you deal with some of the situations you find yourself in.

Anyway the good news is that all the kids have now settled back in to school and for Joshua it is now his final GSCE year. After all the issues we had with his Spanish teacher last year (which is now resolved), he has started this year clashing with his construction teacher. Within the first week back he had picked up 14 "C" points and 3 detentions, hence he has been on report for 2 weeks. On Tuesday I had a progress evening with the school about him and currently he is on track for 1 GSCS (out of 6) and 2 BTech's which just isn't good enough. He is literally only 1 grade away from getting the other 5 GSCE's but really has to knuckle down. We have put in place a strict revision plan for this year and he has now agreed to go to the after school interventions. Also the report is really working as the back end of last week was exceptional with him getting "1"'s across the board. Let's just hope it is not too little too late!!!

Brandon has had a tough couple of weeks as he has again split up from his girlfriend who he has been seeing for about 9 months. I won't get in to the details of what she did on social media but it wasn't nice and poor Brandon was the innocent party who was very emotionally affected by it. So much so he missed a couple of lessons at school and has subsequently now taken a sabbatical from football for a couple of weeks to get his head sorted out. His outlet seems to be the gym and he has thrown himself in to that at least 4 or 5 times a week, but unfortunately I brought him up a lot like me and he bottles everything up inside showing no emotion and not wanting to talk to anyone. So it's tough helping him through these difficult times. I think we are at a turning point though and he is talking about going back to watch his football team play soon.

Then there is Holly - right she is 9 years old and has just started "spotting" with her monthly cycle. How can that be at 9 years old!!! Tina ha changed her work hours and is no longer doing nights and now works 4pm to 12pm 4 nights a week. So one night whilst she was at work Holly came up to me saying she wasn't feeling well and there was some blood in her underwear!!!! This is one that I really could have done with Tina dealing with.

So as you can see a lot going on with the kiddies and Tina's work pattern changing and then to top it all off a few worries with my work as they announced 1000 people going from Dunton and potentially my position being displaced!

On a positive note Joshua is back in rugby and had his first league match last week with a very good 19-10 win. Not many pictures of him as he is either right in the middle of the scrum (being front row) or hoisting someone in to orbit for a line out. Holly is enjoying her new team at Academy but they only have 7 players so if 1 player drops out for any reason then her games are being cancelled.

Joshua's final school picture from Year 11. Haven't received the official print yet so it still has the watermark on it.

Brandon's Year 10 school picture and desperately trying not to smile!

Joshua and Tristan can certainly get some height when lifting their team mate up for a line out!

We don't get many pictures of him as he is often right in the middle of the scrum.

He did finally come to his senses though and has now ordered a head guard for the next game.